Weekly Updates

Palladium Books® Weekly Update – May 12, 2011

By Kevin Siembieda

UPDATE: New Palladium website should go live any day now. Really. We thought the website would be up earlier this week, but we were delayed due to a handful of technical issues; including waiting for our host company to make some necessary changes. That was okay, as it gave us time to make additions and changes to make the new website even better. It’s rather like working on a manuscript for a book: every time one of us takes a pass at it, we see something that could be improved, tweaked or should be changed. So we’ve been making improvements while we wait.

I’m told we should go live Friday night, but it could be over the weekend or on Monday. Our apologies for the delay. I know Rex, Thom and all of us are chomping at the bit to see the new Palladium website go live. We hope you’ll like the new look and improvements. The website has been completely redone from the ground up and we’ll continue to make changes and improvements in the months to come. Our appreciation to those of you who offered comments and suggestions, as well as to Rex Barkdoll for the Herculean amount of work and creativity he put in to it.

UPDATE: Palladium’s Facebook numbers continue to grow. We surpassed the mark of 2,500 people who like the page by 108 and are on our way to 3,000. It’s nice to see so many people finding us and enjoying the page. I continue to post on our Facebook page on a regular basis – every couple of days, though I think I have popped in 4-5 days in a row this week. I’m encouraging the Palladium crew and freelancers to make more appearances too. Along with myself, Alex, Wayne, Mike Mumah, Brandon Aten, Irvin Jackson, Mark Oberle, Carl Gleba, and Braden Campbell, among others, are regulars on the page. Join the fun.

UPDATE: Online sales slumped this week. Sales were so-so this week. Hey, it happens. I’m not worried. As Palladium continues to build momentum with the new website going live, regular releases of new titles, and growing excitement over our plans for the future, sales will bounce back up. Folks are clamoring for the two Rifts® Vampire titles, as well as Rifts® Lemuria, Robotech® New Generation™ Sourcebook and Rifts® Megaverse® in Flames, so now it is simply a matter of getting them finished and to press.

UPDATE: Rifts® Thundercloud Galaxy™ continues to get positive feedback and sell well. So are Armageddon Unlimited™, Dimensional Outbreak™, Heroes of the Megaverse®, Rifts® Japan, Rifts® Lone Star™ and The Rifter® #54, along with other titles. Have you ordered the books you’ve been meaning to get? Get ‘em now or wait until the new store, but make sure you get them. ;)

UPDATE: More Sneak Previews coming your way. People have been enjoying the free sneak previews of Armageddon Unlimited™and Thundercloud Galaxy™available from DriveThruRPG.comso much that we will try to do one for every new release from now on. DriveThruRPG.com is also a good resource for getting The Rifter® #1-48 and to fill in your RPG library with first edition copies of Rifts®, Palladium Fantasy®, Heroes Unlimited™, and other game lines as well as books such as Nightbane® Book Four: Shadows of Light™ and both versions of the The Mechanoids® RPG (1985) andThe Collected Mechanoid Invasion® Trilogy (1981-1983).

UPDATE: Rifts® Japan and Rifts® Lone Star™ are selling like crazy. I didn’t realize these two books were in such high demand. Among other titles reprinted this year, the Palladium Fantasy RPG®, Rifts® Game Master Guide, Rifts® Dark Conversions™, Rifts® World Book 5: Triax & The NGR™, Rifts® Mercenaries™, Rifts® Bionics Sourcebook, and Rifts® China One are also flying off the shelves. Rifts® Book of Magic is the next out of print book to be brought back into print by the end of the month.

Palladium Books® Weekly Update – May 5, 2011

By Kevin Siembieda

News and Updates first . . .

Books are selling, the new website is getting close to going live, a lot of Palladium gamers are voting on our poll and offering very helpful observations and suggestions about Palladium products, as well as ideas for the future. Awesome, keep them coming. As for the staff, we continue to work like maniacs and could use a break, but can't afford to take the time. In fact, Wayne is coming in on Saturday to get some extra work in. I hope to be writing vampires, vampires, vampires!

UPDATE: New Palladium Website goes live next week. The website is almost done and ready to debut. Mark Dudley saw it yesterday for the first time and thought it was outstanding, saying, "This will turn some heads." We think so too. The new look is more dynamic, cleaner, easy to use, updated, and fun. That's the good news. The bad news, I've spent most of the week working with Rex and Wayne on it. Whew, there's a lot more work to these things than you'd think, and I'm not even doing the heavy lifting. If all goes according to plan, the new website will go live Monday or Tuesday evening. Keep your eyes peeled.

UPDATE: Palladium's Facebook numbers are increasing. We are only TWO people away from hitting 2500 people who like the page, we're seeing around 2,000 active users a month, and I've been posting a lot more the past two weeks, as are Alex and an increasing number of freelancers. Plus, we plan to do more with the page in the months ahead. Join the fun.

UPDATE: Online sales. I'm happy to report online sales are up this week and finally hovering around the level we like to see them. With any luck, sales will remain strong for a while or even continue to climb. They should, as Palladium continues to build momentum with the regular release of new titles, and growing excitement over our plans for the future. Best of all, folks are clamoring for the two Rifts® Vampire titles, as well as Rifts® Lemuria, Robotech® New Generation™ Sourcebook and Rifts® Megaverse® in Flames. So I guess I'd better start writing and editing faster!

UPDATE: Rifts® Thundercloud Galaxy™ – the book shipped last week, gamers are loving it and we're seeing a lot of positive response to it. As we had anticipated, people are surprised but delighted with the content. We continue to see a large number of gamers purchasing one or two additional books with their Thundercloud Galaxy™ order; typically Armageddon Unlimited™, Dimensional Outbreak™, Rifts® Japan, Rifts® Lone Star™ orThe Rifter #54. Get your copy today.

For a preview of the book, go to DriveThruRPG.com to get the free PDF download. It is easy to create a free account and only takes a couple of minutes. The free Armageddon Unlimited™ Sneak Preview is also available.DriveThruRPG.com is a good resource for getting The Rifter® #1-48 and to fill in your RPG library with first edition copies of Rifts®, Palladium Fantasy®, Heroes Unlimited™, and other game lines as well as books such asNightbane® Book Four: Shadows of Light™ and both versions of the The Mechanoids® RPG (1985) and The Collected Mechanoid Invasion® Trilogy (1981-1983).

UPDATE: Rifts® Japan and Rifts® Lone Star™ are back in stock and also selling well.

UPDATE: Rifts® Vampire Kingdoms™. I've spent most of the week clearing my schedule so that I can finish rewriting Vampire Kingdoms with little interruption in the next week. I'm burning with ideas and writing is going well.

UPDATE: Rifts® Vampires Sourcebook. I'm kinda working on this book at the same time as Vampire Kingdoms, making notes and kicking material that doesn't fit in the Kingdoms' rewrite into the sourcebook.

UPDATE: Robotech® New Generation™ Sourcebook. No movement on this title this week as my energy has been spent elsewhere. I did have a nice talk with Tommy Yune and he was glad to hear we want 2-4 Robotech books out by the end of the year.

UPDATE: Rifts® Lemuria. Must assign art.

I approved the new cover composition and color sketch for it Wednesday. It will be another crowd pleaser. Epic. And scary. I look at the cover and I think, holy $%@+ that's happening on Rifts Earth! Oh yeah. ;)